THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. S^ 



similar aquatic plants delight to grow. Two or three summers ago, 

 many specimens ot this Calla growing hereabout produced three 

 perfect spathes and spadices on the top of each scape or stem, and 

 numbers also had two spathes, a state not mentioned in any botani- 

 cal work that I have met with, and I have never known it to occur 

 except in that one season. I think it was in June, 1885. 



Another curious instance of instability in the color of blossom 

 IS found in the variations of tint in the Phlox divaricata, which in 

 some of our woods may occasionally be met, with bearing flowers of 

 different shades, from deep bluish purple to a nearly pure white. 



The occurrence of variegated foliage may also be referred to in 

 the Rattlesnake Plantain, as the Goodyeara pubescens is sometimes 

 called. Few can help admiring the pretty white reticulations that 

 adorn the foliage of this common orchid of our beechen groves. 



We have sometimes fancied that, in the case of the Canadian 

 wild garlic, the partial bleaching of the leaves was caused by a sud- 

 den fall of atmospheric temperature just short of freezing. But in 

 the cases of semi-albinism in some leaves — for instance, those of the 

 turnip — the white portions are too artistically mixed and blended to 

 permit that assumption to be a tenable one. There, at least, there 

 is palpable evidence of design ; nevertheless, utility seems to have 

 been sacrificed on the altar of adornment, as, generally, plant speci- 

 mens so particularized are infertile, and our attempts to propagate 

 from the seed found in the white blossoms of the Trifolium pratense, 

 and also from the corn with mottled white and green leaves, invari- 

 ably proved abortive. 



At this season, the berries of the Ilex verticillatus have nearly 

 assumed their brilliant scarlet hue, and they add to the attractive- 

 ness of a walk on the now dry, peaty surface of the swamps on a fine 

 autumnal day. These holly berries have but a very ephemeral ex- 

 istence, as the hard frosts of early winter cause them to fall from the 

 sprays, and when the December snows have arrived, the branches of 

 this interesting shrub have become bare and desolate. ,But the haws 

 of the swamp Rose (R. Carolina), which is quite abundant in many 

 localities of Burford, are far more persistent, and furnish nourishing 

 food to many of the birds that stay here all the winter season. The 

 Blue Jays may be seen feasting on these berries frequently in the 

 severe weather of February, and the Cedar Birds, and more rarely 

 the Pine Grosbeaks, may be seen eating them with evident relish. 



